employee motivation

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Original Research

The relative importance of different types of rewards for employee motivation and commitment in
South Africa
Authors:
Aleeshah Nujjoo1
Ines Meyer1
Affiliations:
1
Organisational Psychology
Section, School of
Management Studies,
University of Cape Town,
South Africa
Correspondence to:
Ines Meyer

Orientation: Employees’ perceptions of rewards are related to their affective commitment and intrinsic motivation, which have been associated with staff turnover.
Research purpose: The study sought to establish the relationship between intrinsic and different extrinsic rewards with intrinsic motivation and affective commitment.
Motivation for the study: South African organisations are grappling with employee retention.
Literature shows that employees who are more motivated and committed to their organisation are less likely to quit. Rewards management strategies serve to create a motivated and committed workforce. Using the correct types of rewards can thus provide a competitive advantage. Email: [e-mail] Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional, correlational study was conducted.
Questionnaire data of 399 South African employees were analysed using bivariate correlations and multiple regression.

Postal address:
School of Management
Studies, University of
Cape Town, Private Bag,
Rondebosch 7700,
South Africa

Main findings: Three main findings emerged. Firstly, there is a relationship between all types of rewards investigated and the two outcome variables. Secondly, this relationship is stronger for intrinsic than for extrinsic rewards and thirdly, monetary rewards do not account for the variance in intrinsic motivation above that of non-monetary rewards.

Dates:
Received: 28 Oct. 2011
Accepted: 26 Sept. 2012
Published: 26 Nov. 2012

Practical/managerial implications: Rewards management strategies should focus on job characteristics and designs to increase

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